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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES. BY M. J. WALHOUSE, LATE M.C.S. (Continued from page 274.)
VII-Bronze Antiquities in India. The elegantly-shaped bronze jug represented, actual size, in the accompanying plate, was dug up some fifteen years ago near A vin à si, in the Koimbatur district, Madras. A great city is traditionally said to have stood where it was found, but only some indistinct mounds and hollows now mark the spot, not only 'periêre etiam ruina-have the very ruins perished, but the name too has been forgotten, and only a dim tradition survives that palaces and temples once spread widely there. Such legends are not uncommon in India, to whose ancient soil the declaration of the poet is peculiarly applicable-
"Thou canst not find one spot Whereon no city stood."
With the jug were found a bronze globular oilvessel with straight tapering spont, and a bronze stand for one wick, both of the forms still commonly in use; but the jug is of a shape not at all Hindu, nor indeed, though elegant and classical, hardly Greek *,-rather resembling what is known to modern manufacturers as 'the Windsor pattern.' It should be remarked that the illustration might convey the idea that the rim opposite the handle is furnished with a spout. This is not the case, however; the rim is really broken away more or less all round, the top of the handle not being attached, but a fracture existing between. From some indications it seems probable that the original rim spread round in a perfect circle 5 inches in diameter, without any spout or depression for ponring out. This would have given the jug a much more archaic appearance; the shape of the handle with its plaited ornament will be noticed.
Avinasi is about a hundred miles from the Malabar coast, between which and Egypt there was certainly a frequent communication in very ancient times; and the Greek and Phoenician sailors, who took home peacocks and perfumes from thence, may have brought out with them such an article as this bronze jug. Further evidence of communication is given by a pot full of well-preserved coins of Augustus and Tiberius, which was dug up at Polachi, in
[OCTOBER, 1875.
Koimbatur, in 1810: and there is, I believe, historical proof that one of the Pandyan kings sent an embassy to Augustus. Copper ornaments are occasionally found in the cairns in Central and Southern India, and in 1870 more than a ton of rudely shaped copper hatchets without sockets, and instruments like knives, were dug up in the Bâlaghat, Maisur; some are now in the British Museum.
VIII.-Masons' Marks.
The thirteenth century was distinguished by a wonderful development of architectural works and skill throughout Europe, and so great a resemblance runs through many of the magnificent monuments then erected, that they have been supposed to owe their origin to associations of artificers travelling over Europe, and employing the knowledge of mathematics and design, that had awoke from the Dark Ages, in the service of art and construction, chiefly ecclesiastical. In that age of faith
"The architect Built his great heart into the sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, and their lives.
Were builded, with his own, into tho walls, As offerings unto God."
Such an association was that of the Fratres. Pontis, who wandered from realm to realm for the purpose of building bridges when travelling became more general, and communication between countries more frequent, as the arts and civilization expanded. Many a pilgrim would then ejaculate with a thankfulness ill understood in these days of excursions made easy"God's blessing on the architects who build The bridges o'er swift rivers and abysses Before impassable to human feet." These societies of wise master-builders and co-workers are believed to have instituted certain secret signs and tokens, by which they might know one another and the works built t the fraternity, and hence are said to have originated many of the signs and passwords of Freemasonry; for they were also styled FreeMasons, equivalent, as some say, to free-stone
* Perhaps most nearly approaching the Oinochoë.
